Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Thursday said there was no question of reversing the state Cabinets decision to reject the Adarsh Commission report.

I stand by the decision unanimously taken by the Cabinet in Nagpur. It was a collective decision and there is no question of reconsidering the matter, Chavan told The Indian Express. He said the rejection of the BN Srikrishna report by the BJP-Shiv Sena government in April 1998 served as a precedent.

Chavan said he did not feel it necessary to explain the issue in detail since the state government had tabled an ATR (action taken report) along with the Adarsh Commission report. It is self-explanatory, he said.

The first two terms of reference covered by an earlier report said the land belonged to the state government and that the project was not confined to Kargil war heroes. The second report,tabled in the legislature in the winter session that concluded December 20,related to the others terms of reference (3-13) and was rejected by the government. But we did table the entire report. So why accuse the government of concealing any fact, Chavan added.

Sources close to the CM said the government was apprehensive that if it were to accept the report,it would be incumbent upon it to take action based on its findings. This could have put the state in a piquant situation with sitting ministers named in the report, said a Congress minister.

NCP corners CM,says decision to reject Adarsh report was his alone

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Thursday distanced itself from the Adarsh housing controversy with Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar saying the decision to reject the judicial commission report was that of Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan as the head of the cabinet.

In fact,the party took a stand that were the Chief Minister to reconsider the decision,he would have NCPs support for the same.

Being the head of the cabinet,the final decision was that of the chief minister, Pawar said,adding that the Opposition parties had a right to go to court against the Cabinet decision if they wanted to.

The Sharad Pawar-led NCP also tried to wash its hands of the issue,saying its ministers had no role to play in the Adarsh irregularities.

The probe report has indicted several top politicians and bureaucrats that include four former Congress chief ministers  late Vilasrao Deshmukh,Ashok Chavan,Sushilkumar Shinde and Shivajirao Patil-Nilangekar.

NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said that despite the Cabinets decision,leaders within the Congress itself had failed to stand by it.

Union minister Milind Deora tweeted against the rejection of the report. Congress leaders themselves are not with the Chief Minister on his decision, he said.

He added that that while paragraph 77 of the report named two NCP leaders,Rajesh Tope and Sunil Tatkare,they were not found guilty of any wrongdoing.

Sources within the party said the NCP was angered by the way in which Chavan was terming the decision as sad and unforeseen.